Russian tabloid distorts Washington Post report on Ukraine to fit Kremlin propaganda narratives

The Moscow government-owned fashionable play Argumenty one Fakty (AiF) published a Russian connection summary of a Washington Post study astir hardships Ukrainian civilians could look this coming wintertime owed to Russia’s systematic targeting of Ukraine’s powerfulness grid.

With much than 1.3 cardinal subscribers to its people transcript and astir 30 cardinal regular leafage views, AiF is 1 of Russia’s astir fashionable Soviet-era media outlets.

The Post’s piece, headlined “Ukraine’s wintertime vigor woes expected to measurement heavy connected a bushed people,” examined the devastating effect of Russia’s regular strikes civilian targets. The portion included interviews with 3 Ukrainians — an anonymous official, a researcher, and an activist.

Ukraine’s powerfulness assemblage and radical endure up of wintertime - The Washington Post

The Post nonfiction quoted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who told the United Nations General Assembly, “This is however Putin is preparing for winter: hoping to torment millions of Ukrainians, mean families, women, children, mean towns, mean villages. Putin wants to permission them successful the acheronian and acold this winter, forcing Ukraine to endure and surrender.”

In summarizing that piece, AiF cherry-picked pieces from The Post and utilized them retired of context, including that the Ukrainians’ enactment for their equipped forces is declining. It besides invented a punctuation stating that “Ukrainian officials fearfulness wide [anti-government] protests” this wintertime owed to powerfulness outages.

“The Washington Post writes, citing an anonymous Ukrainian official, that the fig of [Ukrainians] acceptable to marque territorial concessions to resoluteness the struggle is growing. The fig of radical dissatisfied with the actions of Western allies is besides growing,” AiF wrote.

The AiF summary of the Post study is misleading.

AiF distorted the archetypal article, omitting cardinal parts, misattributed quotes and changing the wording. The resulting portion aligned the Washington Post reporting with the Kremlin’s anti-Kyiv, anti-West propaganda narratives. Namely, that Ukrainians are acceptable to springiness up defending their country, halt supporting their equipped forces and permission the occupied territories to Russia.

First, the Washington Post described Russian aggression successful Ukraine arsenic warfare — AiF translated that arsenic “conflict.” The Kremlin successful 2022 invented a instrumentality criminalizing usage of the connection “war” to picture its invasion, approving lone presumption specified arsenic “special subject operation” and “conflict.”

The AiF translation besides omitted parts of The Post study that speech astir Russia’s hostile actions astatine the halfway of Ukrainians’ suffering.

Second, AiF’s assertion that a elder Ukrainian authoritative complained to The Post astir declining fashionable enactment for its equipped forces is mendacious and taken retired of context.

There is nary attribution to immoderate Ukrainians successful The Post communicative for that passage, which explains that diminished resources among immoderate Ukrainian civilians whitethorn permission them little capable to supply enactment for battlefield units. The transition states: “[M]any warring units are heavy supported by civilian donations to acquisition needed instrumentality — backing that is apt to autumn disconnected arsenic radical tally retired of resources.”

Third, AiF’s assertion that The Post reported that much Ukrainians are acceptable to bargain bid with Russia, adjacent if it implies territorial concessions, is besides misattributed and taken retired of context.

No “senior Ukrainian official” but Anton Grushetsky, enforcement manager of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, told The Post that caller surveys showed an summation of Ukrainians’ “readiness for territorial concessions” to 32% compared to the past year’s 10%.

But AiF omitted the remainder of Grushetsky’s quote, successful which helium said: “[T]he colonisation is overwhelmingly against a bid with Russia ‘at immoderate cost’ — and astir apt volition stay so.”

Fourth, AiF’s assertion that The Post nonfiction reported a increasing fig of Ukrainians dissatisfied with the West is distorted. The Post really quoted Victoria Voytsitska, a civilian nine person and erstwhile parliamentary deputy, who explained to the paper nether what circumstances specified a alteration could happen.

“Dissatisfaction with Ukraine’s Western partners could turn ... if they bash not supply the state with other aerial defenses and proceed to contradict Kyiv forces support to transportation retired heavy strikes connected Russian territory.”

Translating reports by overseas mainstream outlets to propulsion the distorted summaries onto the home audiences is simply a cardinal portion of Russia’s disinformation strategy aimed to make the illusion that Kremlin propaganda narratives are gaining traction with autarkic Western media.